Woman in Black
by WittyRavenclawWriter
Summary: We all know Bellatrix Lestrange. She's the woman who tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom to insanity, murdered Sirius Black, and was Voldemort's most loyal servant. But underneath all the evil and insanity, Bella was just another person, wasn't she?. Who was Bellatrix Lestrange, really? Rated T because I'm paranoid.
1. Introduction

The skinny little girl sits alone on the train, gazing out the window and pushing away her dark curly hair, which keeps falling into her face. She fingers the 12 ¾ walnut wand in her hand, and hums a tune quietly to herself. She has already changed into her Hogwarts robes. No one attempts to join the little girl, seeing as she doesn't exactly give off a friendly persona. And this doesn't bother her in the slightest. She likes being left to her own devices. She has a strange little smile on her face, and is staring off into the distance. Hours go by, but she doesn't leave her seat once. As night falls and the train slows to a stop, she still doesn't move, but waits patiently for the ruckus outside her compartment to fade away before she finally rises from her seat and makes her way to the boats, where she doesn't push or shove, but sits like a statue as she shoots through the lake with the other first years, her face empty of emotion, contrary to the children seated around her, whose faces are full of awe as they catch their first glimpse of the majestic castle before them. She enters the Great Hall with the other students without gasping at the magnificence of it, and when her name is called from a long list, she doesn't hesitate. She steps up and sits down on the stool without an ounce of nervousness visible in her face. She stares out at the sea of faces all looking at her and doesn't once quiver or shake. Her hands are placed delicately in her lap and she waits patiently to be placed in her House. After placed on her head, the Sorting Hat promptly shouts "SLYTHERIN" and she makes her way to the table with the hint of a smug smile etched onto her face. When the Sorting is finished and food appears on the table, she calmly fills her plate and eats quite slowly, unlike her new classmates, all of whom are stuffing their faces like starved animals. The students make their way sleepily to their dorms, most of them wearing content looks on their faces and talking with new friends. But the girl's face is like stone, and she walks alone. Most of the girls in her dorm fall asleep almost instantly, but the young witch's dark eyes stay open for a while. Then, so very late at night when everyone else is most surly having dreams of all sorts, Bellatrix Black begins to hum quietly into the darkness.

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**Author's Note: So, I'm not really sure where this came from but I really liked the idea of doing a story about the life of Bellatrix Lestrange and have been meaning to for a while, thus resulting in the piece of writing you have just read. This is just the introduction, so the next chapters will actually be from Bellatrix's point of view, and hopefully a bit longer. I'd really appreciate reviews and follows… the next chapter should be up soon, but remember that I'm more motivated to write when I know someone's reading. So…. Reviews! Follows! They're all appreciated. Thanks! **

**-WRW**


	2. First Day

The morning sunlight peaked through the curtains and onto Bella's face, waking her from her sleep. She lay still, trying to recall what she had been dreaming about. After a few moments she shrugged and arose. Bella never remembered her dreams, a very frustrating thing in her opinion. As she looked around the dormitory, she found that she appeared to be the first awake. She looked in the mirror at herself. Most girls felt nervous on their first day of school. But not Bella. Bella wouldn't allow herself to succumb to such emotions. As she slowly dressed in her crisp, clean Hogwarts uniform, she felt a smile growing on her face. She slipped on her robes and grinned smugly at the Slytherin crest stitched into the fabric.

_Slytherin. She was a Slytherin. _It was a wonderful feeling.

She was allowed a few minutes of solitude, during which she sat and gazed out the window at the school grounds. But when her dorm mates began rousing themselves, she slipped quickly and quietly out of the room, not in the mood for introductions and name-exchanges.

She paused in her common room, taking in the leather couches and stone walls. She smiled yet again. The room was already feeling comfortable. Bella made her way to the Great Hall and entered with her chin held high, and sat down at the Slytherin table. She didn't make an effort to talk to anyone around her. She found it immensely annoying to be forced to mingle in small talk, and as for making friends… the idea was alien to Bella. Why force yourself to keep company with others, have generally pleasant conversations with them, and be expected to help them out in times of need when you could simply sit back and watch people go about their business? No, Bella was much better off by herself.

Bella looked at her brand-new schedule to find she had Charms class with Ravenclaw in ten minutes. She sat at the Slytherin table for a while, staring into the distance, before she rose from her seat with the rest of her new classmates. She followed two Ravenclaws to the Charms classroom, where she took a seat in the back of the classroom. She leaned back in her seat and gazed out the window lazily.

The Charms professor entered and began introducing himself, but Bella's mind was just about as far away from the class as the moon from Earth. She was carefully studying the plants outside, trying to figure out if a breeze was actually blowing them, or if certain plants were just enchanted to sway. She squinted at a tree that was most definitely still, then at a leafy green bush that was rocking back and forth.

"Excuse me, are you listening back there, miss?" Asked the professor. Bella looked up to find his demand had been aimed at her. She sighed pointedly and said, "Yes." As if you had to be stupid not to see such an obvious thing as that.

"Then what did I just say?" He challenged.

"You said, 'Excuse me, are you listening back there, miss?'" She replied cheekily. A mixture of snickers from her fellow Slytherins and disapproving looks from the Ravenclaws ran through the room.

The professor glared at her. "Ten points from Slytherin for talking back to a teacher, miss...?"

"Black." She answered loudly. She wanted everyone to hear her name and remember it.

"Well then, Miss Black, there will be no more of that attitude in my classroom, I hope." Bella shrugged, her attention already back on the window, more specifically a great battle going on between an elegant butterfly and a little ant. She was cheering for the ant. She watched in anticipation as the butterfly struggled to its feet and tried to fly away, but one wing was bent at an unnatural angle and the ant managed to pin it down again. She grinned triumphantly as the ant succeeded in shredding the butterfly's wings to little bits and began dragging it off. Bella sighed as she settled back into her seat, recognizing that the show was over. Having nothing better to do, she let her attention focus on what the professor was saying.

"…so if you just give it your best effort and come at it with a good attitude, I guarantee you'll succeed in my class. Any questions?"

Bella let out a frustrated little sigh. Teachers were so infuriating, with their constant talk of having the right attitude and doing your best. Everyone knew that it didn't matter if you had the best attitude in the world but absolutely no brains you were still going to fail your exams. Or maybe that was just Bella. As her gaze drifted to the overly-eager Ravenclaws on the other side of the classroom, she had no doubt that they were buying every part of the stupid speech the professor had just made. But she couldn't help smiling as she saw the looks on her fellow Slytherins' faces seemed to mirror her thoughts.

"Ah, and it appears it's time to go!" Said the professor cheerfully. "Good day, children!"

Bella rolled her eyes as she rose from her seat and made her way to the door.

"Oh, and Miss Black?"

Bella halted and let her annoyance flood her face. It was times like these that made her thankful she had mastered the art of controlling her facial expressions to perfection at the age of nine. She turned around with the expression of one mildly interested yet slightly bored.

"Yes, professor?" She asked in a falsely-polite voice.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm not a soft teacher. I will deduct as many points and give as many detentions as I have to give to my students in order to make them understand they must work hard in my class, do you understand me?"

"Yes, professor." Said Bella, looking up with a mockingly innocent expression on her face and barely suppressing sarcasm from leaking into her voice.

"Good. Run along, now."

Bella turned around, immediately letting the expression fade from her face, and rolling her eyes.

"Stupid teacher." She muttered as she left the room.

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**Author's Note: Hello beautiful readers! I wasn't planning to wait this long before updating but I got busy and simply didn't have time to post this chapter. So sorry for the wait. I can almost certainly guarantee that the next chapter will be up by Sunday at the latest (Though hopefully I'll have time to update before that). Please review, follow, favorite, blah blah blah, you've heard it all. But seriously, reviews fuel me to write, so even a simple "I loved it" or "Update soon" helps. Also, if I make any careless errors or get some part of the plot wrong, PLEASE let me know by either reviewing or PM-ing me. Thanks for reading! ^_^**


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